Unchartered Territory

It was Christmas Eve and I was at my friend’s holiday party. I got home around 3:30AM and realized that a major deal broke out among travel extremist. Flightdeal and TravelNoire revealed that Etihad Airline had tickets to the Middle East, Hong Kong, India and Africa for less than $700. I booked my ticket to the Middle East immediately for $200. I went to sleep nervous, excited and in disbelief as to what I just did. Now I am taking a major trip in 1 month to unknown territory and I want to again chronicle the whole process.
So here’s what I’ve done so far:

Booked the ticket: I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to travel to the Middle East for less than $225, that’s unheard of.
Pulled out a map: This is always the most exciting part to planning a new trip. A map illustrates the surrounding countries. Sometimes you can maximize a trip by taking day trips to other surrounding cities. Unfortunately, the Middle East is not one of those places where I can venture too far off especially as a woman and with Isis and other terrorist groups on a rampage.

Talk to someone who has been to the country: Bring on the advice. It’s always a great thing when you can talk to someone who has insider information on how a country operates. I learned that in my case it will probably be best to get an apartment rather than an expensive $700 a night hotel.

Research! Where am I going? How many cities are in this country? Which attraction do I want to be near? Transportation? To do list?